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Editors Note: For a lot of skiers a trip to Utah can be the culmination of a season. Generally one week to hit 13 resorts - ah, the angst when it comes down to choosing which resorts you’ll ski. Well for one lucky east coast skier, this year his trip will be a month long adventure. Follow along as Chris Becker lands himself in Utah for a month. It doesn’t get much better than this.

This is going to be awesome! The anticipation has been building for weeks. Tomorrow I am leaving for Salt Lake City for our annual family ski vacation. The conditions couldn’t be better. In the last week it has snowed over 50 inches of world famous Utah powder and more is on the way. I can’t wait to hit the slopes and ski some of the best terrain in the country.

I am planning on skiing deep powder lines at Snowbird and Alta with my Uncle, while my 3 year old triplet cousins learn to ski at Alta’s Alf Engen Ski School. And, if it ever stops snowing, I plan on driving out to Park City to hit up Jonesy’s Terrain Park for some of the sickest park skiing this world has to offer.

Once the family ski week is over I’m going to linger for the rest of January, spinning Tram laps and skiing as much as I can until school starts up again.  I imagine it’ll be like the dream I never want to wake up from.  I am not sure what the day-to-day plan is going to be, but with all the options Salt Lake offers, I know it is going to be one of the best month’s of my life!

I was out in the backcountry of Big Cottonwood Canyon yesterday with my buddy Dustin for some solitude (nope, not Solitude, solitude) and some untracked powder. The south facing slopes were primo, which isn’t too common considering Utah gets some amazing bluebird days following storms and the sun tends to crust up the snow on south facing slopes.

As we were enjoying some nice untracked powder in the midst of yet another storm I was thinking back to just a month ago when it looked like this:

What a difference a month can make. Everyone was fearful of how the winter was going to turn out and I’m sure the destination skiers living in New York, Florida, Chicago, et al were all wondering why oh why did we book Christmas vacation for Utah.  What a score if you did because now it’s looking a lot like this:

Last night the Cottonwoods got another 3-4″ with Powder Mountain and Snowbasin pulling in the lions share of this storm with 9″ and 8″ respectfully. They don’t call it Powder Mountain for nothing! I would recommend heading north for this weekend as those resorts have gotten more snow this week than anywhere else.

– If you want to check out the next *sick* day that Caroline (in both the images above) takes be sure to watch the Solitude Resort Blog.

The local crowd at Sundance is always strong. With two large universities (BYU and UVSU) and many growing families looking for an inexpensive and fun place to ski, Sundance has a lot to offer. When you try to compare Sundance with other resorts to the North, there’s a huge X-factor that Sundance has going for it. That X-factor is the sheer beauty of the place.

During my college days, I had two years with a full season pass to Sundance, so I know the place pretty well. Hitting it again today conjured up many of those long-forgotten memories like seeing Robert Redford standing in a lift line, watching the kids from the Sundance Ski Team rip up the mountain (US Ski Team Member, Steven Nyman grew up skiing at Sundance) and hucking off what we call Bishop’s Rock.

Just 15 minutes from Provo and Orem, Sundance is a great local’s hill with plenty going for it. The upper mountain houses some great glades, groomers and some great bowl skiing off the summit. Though it only tips the scales at 450 skiable acres, there’s enough variety and amenities to keep the whole family entertained–all for a reasonable $45 lift ticket (only $35 midweek non-holiday!).

If you hit it on a cold (4 degrees in the parking lot today) or snowy day, you’ll likely have the entire upper mountain to yourself–like we did. The little secret of Sundance is when we get the occasional southern storm. Instead of pummeling Little and Big Cottonwood, Sundance and Deer Valley are the ones that get pounded from the southwest flow. So, check the weather… if we’re getting snow from the south, hit Sundance and you’ll have one of the most beautiful resorts in the state all to yourself.

Beaver Mountain is a great option for local skiers in the Logan Valley and for the adventurous skier looking to get to a mountain that has the “home hill” feel. I was crusing the online ski forums and found a few photos and a short write up worthy of checking out over at EpicSki.com.

If you’ve been to Beaver Mountain this past week please chime in and let us know how it is. One of our blog contributors will be headed there this next week. After that your powder stashes will be pillaged!

Immaculate corduroy, impeccable service, short lift lines, amazing turkey chili, fast lifts and tree skiing–all great ways to describe the experience you’ll have at Deer Valley Resort. Consistently rated at the top of Skiing Magazine’s Top 10 Resorts (Rated #1 This Year), Deer Valley is the destination for those seeking the ultimate skiing experience.

When anyone asks me why I like skiing at Deer Valley so much, I tell them all about the great tree skiing and hidden powder stashes throughout the mountain. Most folks at Deer Valley don’t stray too far from the groomers–leaving untold stashes for the adventurous. Deer Valley already had great tree skiing and all-new for 2008 is the Lady Morgan Express Chair–providing access to over 200 acres of steep, gladed terrain with 1150 feet of thigh-pounding vertical.

We were on hand to witness the ribbon-cutting and created a quick video of the highlights. Check it out:

If you’re heading to Deer Valley this season, be sure to hit Lady Morgan for some phenomenal Utah tree skiing.

I should have clarified the title a bit - Powder Mountain has now opened the Paradise lift. And what a paradise it is.

The Paradise lift runs along an east/west running ridge for 1650′ vertical covering nearly 6000′ in length. Cliffs, spines, and all sorts of terrain features are littered along the ridge for your viewing and hucking pleasure. It’s one of those lift rides that truly gives you front row seats to all the action. But it’s what it doesn’t show you that is the paradise.

Like most ridge skiing the top few runs on both sides get hit the hardest. The pull of the powder is too much to bear for some. Remember when your mom said “patience is a virtue”? If you can manage a bit of patience here you’ll find paradise. Heading down the ridge if you pass up the obvious, maintain speed across the flat, wrap around the cliff feature going skiers left and then drop into the Eureka run area you’ll strike gold, white gold!

Of all the powder days I’ve had in Utah this little area of Powder Mountain has been the most consistent in delivering the goods time after time.

Paradise is now open, so go get yourself some powder.

This clip is from local backcountry skier Derek Wiess of Piton Productions who continually captures stunning video images from Utah’s backcountry. Most of the footage is from this past week which was a little pre-Christmas gift from the snow gods. With two storms on tap for next week it’ll be a white Christmas for sure.

Stay tuned and I’ll be posting a recap of the Lady Morgan opener today at Deer Valley. That lift is one not to miss if you’re headed to Utah! (that is if you’re into powder, gladed pines and steeps)

There are 3 major lift openings tomorrow.  If only I could clone myself twice to hit all three of them.  If you happen to get to any of these openings please chime in on the comments and let me know how it was.

1. Snowbasin - The John Paul high speed quad is set to open tomorrow morning.  With 13″ last night and 14″ the night before  it’s sure to be a great opening.  John Paul is one of the steepest elevation gaining high speed quads in the country and certainly one of my favorite places to find stashes of powder
2. Powder Mountain - Little did I realize just how much the Hidden Lake high speed quad would change the feel of Powder Mountain when it opened last year but oh my, it’s worth the trip if you’ve not been there lately.  If you happen to hit Powder Mountain on a weekday when a majority of the locals are giving the man his due, you’ll be lapping Hidden Lake like it’s your own private resort
3. Deer Valley - The day has come for the new Lady Morgan high speed quad to finally open.  Introducing 200 new acres of skiing on 5 runs this east facing lift will surely be a powder stash worth finding your way to.  Just beyond the Empire Lift on the western edge of Deer Valley, Lady Morgan could become your mistress.

I’m headed to Deer Valley to check out the new terrain.  I caught a glimpse of it from Park City Mountain Resort today and it is calling to me.  Like I said, if you happen to hit John Paul at Snowbasin or Hidden Lake at Powder Mountain leave a comment below on how good it was.

Sundance, one of my personal favorites was… beautiful as always. There is something about Sundance that is so calming and peaceful. Maybe it’s the whispering electric lifts, or maybe the wide open runs. At Sundance you can really get away from the busy life, and relax enjoying some quiet time on the mountain. The weekdays are really calm here. You can seemingly enjoy the entire mountain to yourself. It is a great place to take the young kids out on the big mountain. Sundance is a great resort for the whole family.

We had a great time Thursday with 4 inches of powder laying over the main runs and up to 12 inches on the paths less traveled. It was cloudy, menacing a little at first, but it made for a great day. I have been skiing the last few times so I decided to break out my board and I was back on familiar ground. We took a few runs on the front mountain to warm up then it was deep snow on Back Mountain all day. Sailing through the snow felt so good. I had some tumbles, even managed to get stuck in the deep powder a few times and had to dig out, but that’s the point RIGHT! Take a day to come and ride with me at Sundance over the holidays.

Being a local was something I didn’t give much thought to when I moved to Park City back in the 1996-97 season. As things like Interlodge, Lake Effect, SW/NW flow began to gain meaning and the regular faces in the gondola line at The Canyons, the Tram at Snowbird, Collins lift at Alta and other spots became more common being a local took on more meaning.

One of the things it means is never lacking for a ski partner on a powder day and having the ritual down well enough that first tracks are commonplace.

After coming home from Snowbasin last night I switched my 8:30 bagel and coffee meeting to a PROBAR and a lift ride on starting with Pay Day at Park City Mountain Resort. Such is the life of a local.

And what a morning it was. I hooked up with Brian Kahn, head local of Locals Have More Fun and we hit it fast and furious with “meeting” discussions on the lifts.

Park City was reporting 10″ that skied like 15″ in many places. In two hours we laid down fresh tracks and lapped up powder with more productivity than any meeting I’ve attended in a long time.

We started off on Pay Day and headed to the Bonanza Lift. Riding Bonanza we caught the morning rays hitting Jupiter - still in need of more snow sup there but amazingly beautiful in the very cold morning (11 degrees at 8:30 am)

We dropped down Double Jack to the Thaynes lift. Double Jack had some beefy bumps which I’m not a fan of but there was just enough powder to hit the bumps and soar to the next soft landing. Thaynes run under the lift looked mostly void of tracks so the obvious was our next route. The bumps were smaller under the powder and I barely felt any as we ripped long downhill style turns.

Next up, Blueslip Bowl on the Pioneer Lift. It was oh so yummie and I snapped the below photo of Brian.

We were going to head up Pioneer for a repeat but with McConkey’s Lift open we couldn’t resist. The wind was super cold up top making me regret my neck gator being left at home. We dropped the bowl with hoots and hollars from the lift above. Pioneer was next with Comstock and the adjacent runs looking fresh. As we ripped down Comstock I looked to my right and saw Brian attacking the powder, plumes of white smoke building behind him and Jupiter Peak basking in the light above. It was surreal. I kept sneaking a glance, smiling the entire time.

We hit the mid mountain cut-off and a Bonanza lift to Silver Skis run on the front mountain, one of the Signature Runs at Park City. With the click of the poles I bid farewell to my morning “meeting” and headed for the “office”. I think it’s true - locals do have more fun .